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Good product, would recommend.

Introduction:

At a time when everyone is feeling the pinch, predominately due to the recession, and more recently due to the usual Christmas expense, it makes it even more important to tightly budget. One of the ways I try and be more money conscious is to keep a tight eye on my household expenses. When doing the weekly shop there are certain items which you can try and save money on by buying a cheaper equivalent, and some of them do the same good job as the more expensive equivalents, and others which do not really compare, and you totally do get what you pay for. I was hoping that this daisy washing powder would be one of those which saved me some money and did as good a job as the more expensive brands.

Price and availability:

Daisy is a brand exclusive to Tesco. It is part of Tesco's efforts to bring in more variety at the lower end of the price range spectrum. Therefore you can only buy this in Tesco stores, and I have seen it in the bigger stores and the smaller ones. It is priced at the higher end of £3, just below the £4 mark and varies slightly, yet I have never seen any special offers (like buy one get one half price etc).

Actual product:

The washing powder comes in a cardboard box, and this is the only packaging, which is good as it is 100% recyclable. The product is lose powder, rather than tablets, and I find a couple of big spoonfuls does a good job for me, unless the washing is very dirty. I use less than it states on the box, which makes the product even more economical. It is easy to measure out and use and has a mild, clean, non offensive smell. I find the washing powder works well, it always gets my clothes clean (although I don't really have heavily soiled muddy clothes etc), it smells nice when dry, doesn't make my towels or flannels crusty etc. I have used this for a couple of months now and none of my clothes that have vibrant colours have faded excessively.

Conclusion:

In short, this washing powder, does exactly what you would expect and hope. I have had no problems what so ever with it and will continue to do so. It is a good bargain product and one I would definitely recommend.

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A good product for an excellent price.

I almost always buy budget brands of washing products, not through choice I simply can't usually afford the prices of the top brands such as Ariel and Persil. Usually these budget brands are supermarket own value brands, one of these is a gargantuan 2.4kg box of Daisy colour washing powder which gives 30 washes. This is enough to last me about two weeks depending on how mucky everyone gets etc (we are a family of 4 adults not in outdoor employment). At time of writing this product costs £3.29 available only at Tesco which is less than half the price of a similar sized Ariel colour product - the Ariel only gives an average of 25 washes to Daisies 30 and is a slightly lower weight.

The box has no pouring spout and is opened by pulling a strip of card around the top we only open three sides as it leaves us with a kind of 'hinged' lid. You could if you wish of course decant it into a plastic container with a 'proper' lid and maybe even a spout. There is no scoop included with the powder we just wriggle the box carefully and quite often some of it goes into the washing drawer, or if we are being good we use an old scoop from another powder or small cup.

On the back of the box are the usual instructions for use and gives the quantity of detergent to water in mls. Daisy is a bleach free formulation which claims to keep your colours 'true', however it does not claim to have any other properties which help to preserve the intensity of colours nor migration of colour from one item to another.

How does the powder perform?

In my opinion for the most part very well; it gets out most stains and everyday dirt first time at low temperatures, it has the same 'issues' with certain stains that other non bio powders would at low temperatures such as blood (which is easy peasy to get out if you spot it and soak in cold salt water before washing), biro etc . I don't often wash normal clothes over 30 or 40 degrees, but towels and bedding are washed at the highest temperatures the fabrics will tolerate. I have noticed that Daisy deals with stains in some fabrics better than others but I have noticed this with other powders too. It works very well on my high cotton content polyblend pale bedding, but it isn't brilliant at keeping towels white even on a 90 degree wash. I've bought a cheap biological washing powder to use on my towels and other whites (with extra rinses or we itch) as they had become quite 'puggy' looking. However I've had similar issued with Ariel and Persil.

This power does a good job of my coloured laundry I haven't noticed any more fading than with other more expensive brands. Most items retain their vibrancy and don't seem to bleed into other colours. However on some fabrics (some Jerseys and cottons in particular) black doesn't remain as dark as I'd like it to be, one garment in particular has faded to a charcoal colour rather than the intense black it was. Again I have had this happen with more expensive detergents too.

Daisy doesn't have a strong fragrance, it just comes over as a fresh, generic detergenty smell. I don't mind this as my washing usually smells of my conditioner not of my powder anyway. On items I don't use fabric conditioner with the scent when dry is fresh and clean but not reminiscent of anything other than clean laundry.

A great thing about this detergent is that it has no effect on my itch prone skin; I couldn't use Persil if I wanted as it makes anywhere the clothes rest against my skin feel as if a thousand tiny needles are tickling against it, the kind of itch that makes your whole body jerk and that you can't help but scratch. Daisy doesn't do that which as you can imagine is a great relief.

Although the cleaning is about on a par with more expensive brands and there is no reaction from my sensitive skin I have noticed that with prolonged use my clothes don't seem to last quite as long. I'm not sure why this would be, but they seem to become 'lifeless' a little more quickly. I have been using Daisy fairly regularly for about two years now and can say that I have had to replace a couple of items more quickly than when I my everyday powder was Ariel (and Persil until it was identified as the cause of insane itchiness). These items are basic staples in my wardrobe and I have bought the same or similar item for several years so can compare how quickly they 'wear' and lose shape when using different products. A couple of months of Daisy use pays for their replacement though which would only be once every two years or so anyway, so for me this isn't much of an issue.

I can't be sure decreased longevity is entirely down to Daisy there could have been changes in the manufacture of the garments or it could be related to they type of softener I use. Even with this perceived negative I would still highly recommend Daisy, the negative isn't dramatic difference in longevity and everything else is within the same parameters as more expensive brands. The only thing I liked about my more expensive brands over Daisy was the lovely fragrance some of them impart. However I'm on a tight budget and I'm quite happy to forgo that, and there is a bonus in the lack of a strong fragrance which is that the scent of my powder doesn't compete with that of the softener, or any fragrance I might choose to wear.

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I will buy this again.

Daisy washing powder,

I was trying to save some money and spotted this daisy washing powder which is for coloured clothing.I brought it from Tescos store and mainly choose it because it was less than three pounds and being on a budget I wanted to save some pennies.

Ive never tried this soap powder before and being a step up from tescos cheap brand and the next brand in the price list I decided to but one and give it a try.

It comes in a strong hard carboard box and you have a strip openning across the top of the boc which is you pull opens all around the top of the box so that the box opens and lifts up, you dont get a cup dispenser inside this box unfortunately, but i have an old plastic cup that I keep inside the box and scoop out approximately half a cup full per wash load of coloured clothing and add this to my automatic washing machine.

What I noticed was the really lovely smell that comes out of the box when you are scooping out the washing powder and it seems to larther up well and has a few bubbles in the washing machine.

Performance:

Well i was rather suprised because all of the clothing so far that I have washed has been really clean and any stains that I have had have disapeared, this I am suprised at for a cheap washing powder, I did try tescos value brand and this was not the case so for a cheaper washing powder I am more than happy with the results it had on my washing. I did not notice any rashes or problems this had on my skin and had washed my bedding in it and that was ok im pleased to say too.

You get 30 washed to the box whether this is true I cant say as im afraid I dont tend to count how many wash loads I get per box, but know that I only use half a cup full of this powder and ive had my box for quite a few weeks now so am more than happy not only with the amount of washed im getting but also the performance that it has on cleaning my clothes and I shall stick with buying this washing powder for a while as ive saved a few pennies on my usual brand.

This is specially designed with colours in mind, they do also produce a washing powder for biological washing.

Warning :

Keep out of sight and reach of small children.

Avoid contact with your eyes.

In case of contact with eyes rinse immediately and seek medical advice.

Rinse and dry hands well after contact with this product.

People with sensative and damaged skin should obviously avoid prolonged contact with this powder.

They do have a promise on the back of the box that states "we are happy to refund or replace any tesco product that falls below the high standard you would expect and they do give you a telephone number you can call which is a freephone one.

The box contains 2.4 kgs.

The box is recyclable.

Suitable for all colours and general machine washing.

Clothes with flame or water resistant finishes probably need a specialist washing powder.Storage :Store in a cool dry place, i keep mine in my broom cupboard.

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A good smelling cheap fabric conditioner

This product suggestion which I added has come up a little strange as it should be the Daisy Peony Fabric conditioner, but Dooyoo have given it the wrong name and picture but have placed it in the correct category. I have re-requested it but they say will not add the product again as it already exists in this place, so please do ignore the picture and title.

Daisy is a product brand which Tesco have been stocking more of over the last few months. They have introduced it their shelves as a Discount Brand. I have tried a few of the other products in this range before and have overall had a good result from them so I had no hesitation in trying this fabric softener out. I have to also admit that the pink colour was also a deciding factor as I have 3 boys so don't really get to buy pink things!

~~PACKAGING~~

The fabric conditioner comes in a clear plastic bottle which means we can see the pink liquid inside and know exactly how much we have used and have left, meaning you never run out. The top of the bottle has a pink screw cap which also doubles up as the measuring cup. The front of the bottle has a pink label with the Daisy logo on, the product name and a picture of a white daisy. The back of the bottle has a white and pink label and here you can find all of the product information.

~~USE AND RESULTS~~

It is very simple to use the fabric conditioner and to do so you use the measuring cap to measure the required amount and pour this into the correct section on your washing machine. The dosage suggested is a full 30ml cap for a large cotton load, 20ml for a large mixed fabric load, 15 ml for a synthetic fabric load or hand wash.

When I first unscrewed the lid I was disappointed by the lack of smell, I really had to sniff the bottle quite hard to find the fragrance. Once I was able to smell it I thought it was nice, light and quite summery, it is also very floral. Once I poured the capful into the machine and the cycle had started I did get more of a smell from the machine and this seemed to linger for the duration of the washing cycle. Once the clothes were washed and before drying I could easily smell the floral scent on all of the clothes and this fortunately did remain once the clothes had been dried in the tumble dryer.

Once I removed the clothes after being dried I noticed that they were very soft. I found the denim items were not too soft and would have liked this to have worked slightly better on the thicker items but small items and school tops and underwear was very soft and smelt lovely. After placing clothes away and returning a few days later to get them out of the wardrobe I was still able to faintly smell the fragrance. It had faded a lot but was still slightly noticeable, I am pleased that it did dull down as hubby really does not want to be walking around in an army uniform smelling of flowers!

The softener did not have any effect on the colour of the clothes or the fabric. My hubby who does have sensitive skin has had no problems or irritations since I started using this fabric conditioner.

~~INFO~~

The fabric conditioner comes in a 1 litre sized bottle and it claims to be concentrated so the stated dose is enough per load. I have found that using one cap full on each lead is good enough and do not change the dose for the different fabrics as I wash all clothes together. The bottle has lasted me for 2 weeks and this is with it being used every day and some days twice.

There are some warnings on the back of the bottle and these include not using the fabric conditioner direct on fabrics, keep away from children, rinse hands after use and avoid contact with eyes.

The fabric conditioner has not been tested on animals and the bottle is 100% recyclable.

I have only seen the Daisy products being sold in Tesco stores and this is priced at £1 per bottle which I feel is a great price.

~~RECOMMENDED?~~

I do recommend this fabric conditioner as it does have a lovely smell which is not overpowering and it leaves clothes soft and fresh. I can not give it the full 5 stars though as it did not work too well on denim and thick clothing. For the price I think it is a great product and worth a try.